9 November 2009

Victorian mains upgrade in Richmond

A £3.5million scheme to replace 5.7 miles (9.3km) of worn-out Victorian water mains in Richmond begins this month.

Thames Water will spend the next 14 months replacing ageing cast iron pipes - some of which are 150 years old - with tough, flexible plastic ones. The replacement will take place within the boundary of Richmond Hill, Queens Road, Marchmont Road, Royston Road, Montague Road and Cardigan Road, in TW10.

Lawrence Gosden, Thames Water's Head of Capital Delivery, said:

"The work in this area is part of a wider project to upgrade Victorian water mains across London. By the end of this year, 1,300 miles of old pipe - enough to stretch more than 11 times around the M25 - will have been replaced since we started this work in 2002. Our mains replacement programme has helped cut leakage by 24 per cent in the past four years.

"Where possible, new pipes will be placed inside the old metal ones, which means less trench-digging will be required and, more importantly, less disruption to motorists and residents.

"The sturdy new plastic pipes we're putting in will reduce the risk of damage from soil corrosion and traffic vibrations. They're also less likely to break during freezing weather.

"Where possible we use high-strength plastic plates to bridge our roadwork excavations, enabling London's motorists to use the road as normal during rush hour and, hopefully, avoid getting stuck in traffic jams. We're the first UK utility to use road plating and since introducing it in April this year we've covered an impressive 2,000 metres of trenches in Central London."

Drop-in session

The project in Richmond starts on Monday 23 November. A drop-in session for local people to learn more about the work is taking place from 10.30am to 2.30pm on Saturday 14 November in a mobile customer unit located on Richmond Hill opposite Richmond Gate Hotel.

Councillor David Trigg, Richmond Council's Cabinet Member for Traffic, Transport and Parking, said:

"This work is vital but it will cause some unavoidable disruption on our roads over the next 14 months. We would ask people to bear with us, and in the meantime we will monitor Thames Water's work very closely to make sure that they are completing individual projects on schedule and keeping disruption to our residents and visitors to an absolute minimum."